Natural hazards · Bowstring

Bowstring, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bowstring comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Bowstring?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bowstring to be higher than in 74% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding68%Cold waves24%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Bowstring faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Inland flooding

68% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 91% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Cold waves

24% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 67% of U.S. places

Recorded about 17 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic activity

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Bowstring flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Bowstring.

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Bowstring isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Itasca County.

Disasters that hit Bowstring

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Itasca County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Bowstring itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into BowstringDeclared for Itasca County only

Itasca County has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Bowstring

Bowstring and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Bowstringmostly inland floodingHigh

Lake Jessiemostly inland floodingHigh

Marcellmostly inland floodingModerate

Oteneagenmostly inland floodingModerate

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Bowstring is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Bowstring’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Bowstring. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.